The .45-70 cartridge has been around for 140 years and is certainly not what most would consider an
example of modern ballistic performance. Most loads sighted 3” high at 100
yards will drop nearly a foot at 200 yards. Yet, in spite of its less than
impressive performance, it is a popular choice among sport shooters and
hunters. Nearly every historical single shot replica is chambered for the
.45-70, but I believe that the .45-70 is at its best when chambered in lever
action rifles and carbines. Carbines chambered in .45-70 are excellent, short
range “knock-down” guns, ideal for deer, feral hogs, black bear and larger game.

By the mid-20th
century, the .45-70 had nearly disappeared from the scene as a popular
cartridge, but legend, reenactment and product promotion brought the round
roaring back. Perhaps the most influential of the lever action rifles is the
Marlin Guide Gun. Today, the Marlin Guide Gun is a popular choice for anyone
wanting a short range, fast shooting, powerful, dangerous game defense gun. While
most of us will never have to face the wrath of a charging grizzly in the
alders of Alaska, the romance of the Guide Gun is addictive. In addition, as I
have found over the years, the .45-70 Guide Gun speaks with such authority that
it is often my first choice when other rounds would do just as well.

A feral hog hunter
doesn’t usually need anything more powerful than a .30-30 or .243, but the
.45-70 is just more fun to shoot and it anchors hogs like the hammer of Thor. Compared
to just about any dangerous game rifle on the market, the Marlin Guide Gun is
very reasonably priced. It is a popular hunting gun and will probably continue
to be for decades.

I’ve owned and parted
with three Marlin .45-70 rifles during several decades of quenching my thirst
to experience hunting with different types and styles of rifles. The first was
a Model 1895 equipped with a fixed power 1.5X scope. I took an excellent
whitetail buck at 50 yards the first season I owned it.

My second Marlin was a
stainless steel Guide Gun with ported barrel and I added XS Express sights. It
remains one of the fastest on target hunting rifles I have ever owned. I could start
a tin can at 40 yards and roll it along as fast as I could lever and shoot the
next four rounds. I bought that gun brand new and sold it two seasons later for
a $200 profit. I wonder what it is worth now.

My third was an
impulse purchase during the closing of a sporting goods store chain. I bought a
standard walnut and blue steel Guide Gun at a little over dealer cost. I
carried it quite a bit backpacking and horse packing in the mountains. I sold
it for what I originally paid to a Colorado horse packer guide who wanted it
for his business. He probably needed it more than I did.

I was preparing for a
Montana and Idaho camping and wolf calling trip. I decided that I’d like to
have another Guide Gun to take along for camp and bear defense. That was when I
ran across a new Henry H010 carbine in .45-70. I was impressed with the general
fit, finish, and design of the Henry and it is American made, so I decided to
give it a try. The price was higher than a Marlin, but the Henry came standard
with XS Express Sights that made it very competitive.

Marlin Model 1895G Guide Gun

Illustration courtesy of Marlin Firearms Co.

The Marlin Guide Gun Model 1895G is a
traditionally designed lever action big bore carbine with a polished blue
finish and standard grade straight grip walnut stock. It is a side ejection,
solid top receiver, traditional Marlin 336 action with the hammer block safety
button near the hammer. It has a short 18-½” barrel with standard barrel bands
linked to the forearm and cartridge feed tube near the front sight. The open
sights are traditional semi-buckhorn rear with a blade and bead front sight. It
is equipped with detachable sling swivel studs on the butt and forearm band. The
wrist and wide forearm have traditional and fairly rough machine checkering.

The example I bought
at a gun show was new, but from a dealer’s old stock. It rested beside a pair
of new Marlin Model 1895GBL rifles in .45-70 with big loop levers, pistol grip
laminated stocks and matte blue finish. I was not impressed with the fit and
finish or design of either of the newer rifles. I sighed and thought to myself,
“Is this where Marlin is going under Remington ownership?” The 1895GBL is
designed to sell at a competitive price to city slickers, but it is not the
rugged, outdoor, dangerous game carbine that the older model is.

I use a new Model 336Y
in .30-30 as a truck gun with the same finish and laminated stock design. It
functions and shoots fine, but the finish is nothing less than a rust magnet
and demands nearly constant attention. The heavy laminated stocks have all the
appeal of a fence post. The GBL's were priced cheaper than the 1895G, but I
gave them only a passing inspection before selecting the older, much better
rifle. I felt it was best to get one of the good guns before they were gone.

The Henry Model H010 .45-70 is a side eject,
solid top lever action carbine that looks quite similar to the Marlin at first
glance. The pistol grip stock and forearm are walnut with a smoother dark
finish and shallower machine cut checkering than the Marlin. The forearm seems
thin in the hand compared to the Marlin’s wide forearm. The butt of the Henry
has a substantial vented recoil pad and sling swivel studs are provided.

There is no safety switch
mounted in the receiver, as Henry is equipped with an internal transfer bar
safety that prevents hammer contact with the firing pin unless the trigger is
pulled. There is also no half cock hammer notch on the Henry. The exposed
hammer is either fully cocked or resting against the receiver.

There is no side loading
port cut into the receiver. Load is by means of a brass loading tube, similar
to the under barrel feeding tubes of many .22 rifles. It is secured with
substantial plastic bands and is equipped with sling swivel studs. Tube feed
loading is a design feature common to all Henry rifles, I assume to remain
similar to the original Henry rifle of 1860. The tube is opened by pushing down
to free a short pin from a retaining slot then turned to allow the tube to be
removed. A cartridge slot is cut midway down the loading tube housing to allow
loading without fully removing the tube. The Henry is also equipped with
standard XS Ghost Ring sights with a white strip clearly visible on the front
sight post. The finish is matte blue on the receiver and barrel, less refined
than the 1895G, but not as crude as on the 1895GBL Marlin.

I guess the initial
topic for discussion should be the purpose for owning a .45-70 lever action
carbine in the first place. Other than as a heavy knock down thick cover big
game hunting rifle, the real reason for designing such a gun is for defense
against dangerous predators. A dangerous game guide or outfitter needs a
carbine style repeater chambered for a powerful cartridge that can be deployed
very quickly at close range. The rifle needs to be light, manageable and
foolproof. It should be a design that will ride well in a saddle scabbard or
can be carried for long hours in the field in all weather conditions.

Both the Marlin and
the Henry are reliable actions that feed and function very well. The trigger
pull on both is adequate at about 4 pounds.

The Henry has a longer
length of pull. I had some trouble getting the Henry into my shoulder quickly,
as the heavy recoil pad seemed to hang up on my shirt and jacket. I had to
purposely push the butt away from my shoulder and draw it back for quick shots.
The Marlin was much smoother to get into shoulder alignment. Advantage Marlin.

The Henry’s recoil pad
and pistol grip stock helped to significantly soften the recoil of heavy loads.
I was quicker back on target after shooting with the Henry. Advantage Henry.

The Henry’s Ghost Ring
sights are extremely quick on target. If you have never used a ghost ring
sight, you need to try it, especially if you do a lot of close range, fast shooting.
They are quite accurate out to 100 yards and I have never had any damage to any
ghost ring sights in the field. I have damaged traditional open sights, such as
are on the Marlin Guide Gun, in the field. Advantage Henry.

Marlin’s side safety
button design is a joke, a lawyered up gimmick that never has and never will
make sense on an open hammer, lever action with a hammer safety notch. I push
the button to shooting position and leave it there on all my Marlins. Every
once in a while, however, I try to make a shot and the hammer does not make
contact with the firing pin, because the lawyer button got bumped into safety
position. Hell of a thing to happen on a dangerous game carbine! I consider
Henry’s transfer block system to be much superior. Advantage Henry.

I had trouble from day
one with the loading tube of the Henry. I contacted the Company and they were
perfectly willing to inspect and repair the gun under warranty with the cost of
mailing both ways on them! That is impressive, especially if you’ve ever had
any dealings with Remington’s crack pot warranty and repair program. On
warranty service, advantage Henry.

However, the loading
tube concept is an issue for me. The Henry can be loaded and unloaded very
quickly. I’ve heard and read arguments that the Henry is fully out of service while
the tube is being loaded, which is true. When things work right, however,
loading can be done very quickly. In fact, the tube feed can be loaded quicker
than the Marlin's side port feed.

The trouble is that
the loading tube on my Henry would stick tight and I could not remove it
without the use of pliers to free it from the tube housing. I tried everything
I could think of to loosen the tube for quick reloading before contacting the
company. It seemed that the heavy recoil of .45-70 loads was driving the rubber
o-ring on the loading tube into the tube housing. I went back to the gun shop
where I purchased the rifle and examined the tightness of the loading tubes of
.44 magnum and 30-30 Henry rifles in stock. Some tubes were very tight and
others were easy to work. I took the rifle to the dealer and one of his big,
burly, sales staff with hands and fingers like slabs of meat had no trouble
opening the tube. He then asked me if I knew that I was to push down on the
tube to free it from the retainer notch. Duh! Teach your mother to suck eggs! I
was probably hunting with my first .45-70 when he was being potty trained!

I recently read an
article in a gun magazine where the author was demonstrating in a photo how a
shooter could load the side port of a lever action while holding the butt of
the rifle to his shoulder. This was being used as an argument for the advantage
of a lever action rifle. I can just imagine trying to pull .45-70 cartridges
from my belt and jamming them into a Marlin loading port with one hand while I
kept the rifle carefully in shoulder position in case the dangerous critter I
was after charged before I got another critical cartridge chambered into the
rifle. Poppy cock!

The fact remains,
however, that a side port can be reloaded quickly and I have been in
situations where my shaking, nervous fingers were having trouble just holding
onto the cartridge, let alone getting it into a rifle. It seems like no matter
how much you’ve practiced, in truly dangerous or tense situations, nothing
seems to work as planned. A loading tube, flopping around on the end of the
rifle in thick brush while the nervous user tries to charge the rifle, does not
appeal to me. Neither does a stuck loading tube in wet, snowy, or icy
weather. So, on the loading issue, I have to say, advantage Marlin.
(We had absolutely no trouble with the magazine tube of the Henry .45-70 we reviewed--see the Product Reviews page for details. -Editor.)

For me, this became
the critical difference and why I chose to keep the Marlin over the Henry. Both
are excellent shooters. Both handle smoothly without a hint of malfunction or
misfeeding. The recoil of .45-70 loads, especially Hornady LeverEvolution
rounds, is much heavier with the straight wrist stocked Marlin, but I don’t
notice recoil when shooting in the field, especially in tense situations. The
Henry is also a more bulky design than the Marlin 1895G and did not handle as
quickly in tight conditions. The tables are entirely turned when comparing the
Henry to the cheaply made 1895GBL. I’d go with the Henry every time.

A recreational shooter
and sport hunter should have no trouble with the Henry H010 loading tube and I
doubt it will ever be an issue. However, for me, when I’m jamming a .45-70 into
my saddle scabbard for a ride into the back trails of Rocky Mountain bear
country, it will be the Marlin 1895G.